Five Women’s Storylines (& Some Bonuses) To Watch for at the Pro Swim Series – San Antonio

2024 TYR PRO SWIM SERIES – SAN ANTONIO

• April 10-13, 2024
• Northside Swim Center, San Antonio, TX
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets (Updated 4/9)
• Men’s Storylines

For those of you who think that yard swimming isn’t real swimming and that the affectionately called “bathtub” is way too small, it’s your time to celebrate as everyone’s attention (including my long-course disliking eyes) turns towards the “big pool’. With this being the first Olympics since the pandemic, everyone’s tune-up meets will be heavily scrutinized as much of the swimming world’s attention shifts toward Texas.

San Antonio hosts the third and final leg in what has been a truncated Pro Swim Series. The first two stops in Knoxville, TN, and Westmont, IL,  saw a strong pro group of swimmers, including Caeleb Dressel, winning the 50 free in a bizarre timing and block malfunction and Regan Smith breaking Summer McIntosh’s PSs record in the 200 fly.

While there had been a smattering of college swimmers at the previous two stops, the Walsh sisters swam in Knoxville, and Cal sent swimmers to both stops; this stop will see multiple NCAA winners, which stands as a great segue into the first of our storylines.

‘Walsh’ can’t they do?

Alex Walsh (photo: Jack Spitser)

After each winning three events at the 2024 Women’s NCAA Championships, Alex Walsh and her younger sister Gretchen Walsh set their sights on long course meters as they prepare for their run at qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games. A. Walsh, who is the reigning Olympic Silver medalist in the 200 IM, will take on a heavy schedule of events as she swims the 100 free, 100 breast, 100 fly, 200 breast and 200 IM. In the IM, she is seeded behind only the reigning gold medalist and her teammate Kate Douglass. The older Walsh is opting not to compete in the 400 IM, an event she won at NCAAs, but will look to throw down in a competitive 200 breast field alongside the likes of domestic competition Douglass, Lilly King, and Lydia Jacoby.

Walsh, who won the 50 free, 100 free, and 100 fly at the NCAAs, is entered in four events this week. In addition to trying to turn her short-course wins into long-course ones, she will take on the 100 backstroke, in which she is the everything record holder in the yards pool. However, while she was utterly dominant in the yards pool last month, meters haven’t been as kind to her. The younger sister got over that hurdle last summer, qualifying for the Worlds team, where she won a medal of each color, including an individual bronze in the 50 fly. Still, in San Antonio, she will face a bevy of competition that has been focusing solely on meters, including the likes of Siobhan Haughey, Abbey Weitzeil, and Torri Huske.

Don’t forget about us

The Walsh sisters aren’t the only NCAA champions to show up in San Antonio. Phoebe Bacon, Katharine Berkoff, and Emma Sticklen will also look to parlay their wins into long-course success.

Phoebe Bacon (photo: Jack Spitser)

Bacon, who won the 200 back at NCAAs, has been on a bit of an upswing lately, and it appears to be coming just in time as she attempts to qualify for her second Olympics. Her path, however, is quite difficult as the backstroke events are some of the deepest ever. Regan Smith is a looming presence, as is fellow 2021 Olympian Rhyan White. In the 100, besides running into the aforementioned Walsh, Bacon will have to grapple with NCAA 100 back winner Berkoff. Berkoff, who just wrapped up her collegiate swimming career at NC State, is the second seed in the 100 back, behind Smith, and will also take on the sprint frees, where she is seeded 23rd in the 50 and 15th in the 100.

Also running into the Regan Smith problem is the NCAA 200 fly champ Emma Sticklen. The Texas Longhorn, who used a great last underwater to take the win, will have some reinforcements in the 200 fly as her training partners Dakota Luther and Kelly Pash are both seeded above her as are NCAA rivals Tess Howley and Lindsay Looney.

Depth=Excitement

While watching Katie Ledecky swim is always a marvel, the lack of competition can be a little discouraging for spectators (she is the top seed in the 1500 by over 25 seconds). The women’s sprint free and backstrokes certainly won’t disappoint.

The sprint frees are absolutely stacked with talent. Weitzeil leads the field in the 50 but will be hard-pressed by G. Walsh, Douglass, Huske, and Olivia Smoliga, and that’s just the domestic field. Kasia Wasick and Siobhan Haughey are the #2 and 3 seeds, and Olympians Farida Osman and Taylor Ruck lurk and are seeded dangerously low. The 100 free sees much of the same field, but Haughey takes her spot at the front, seeded at 52.02, more than half a second clear of Douglass’s 52.57

The 100 back also looks to be a tough battle, as Smith contends with the likes of Berkoff, Smoligia, White, Kennedy Noble, and Bacon. After Smith, finishing second in the 100 back has been probably one of the most contested spots on the women’s roster and looking to reclaim that spot after an absence is Claire Curzan.

2024 Worlds Impact

CURZAN-Claire
World Aquatics Championships – Doha 2024
02 – 18 Feb 2024
credit Fabio Cetti

The US sent an extremely small team to Doha, especially on the women’s side, but they certainly made themselves known in the medal table. Curzan, who transferred from Stanford to UVA but is on a redshirt year, swept the backstrokes, the second swimmer ever to do so, and added an individual silver medal to her total haul of six medals. In San Antonio, she is entered in five different events, tackling the 50/100 free, 100/200 back, and 100 fly. It will be interesting to see how the success of two months ago plays into her swims in Texas, as she has been solely training in long course while the collegiate swimmers are just making that transition.

Curzan is not the only 2024 World Champion expected to dive into the water. Douglass, who won the 200 IM in Doha, as well as silver medals in the 50 free and 200 breast, will take on six events. She is the top seed in the 200 IM and 200 Breast, and the 50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, and 100 breast in her program. In her first year of training exclusively for long course, it will be interesting to see if Douglass can continue her run of form that saw her set the American record in the 200 breast in Knoxville and new personal bests in the 50 free and 200 IM in Doha.

Haughey also won three medals in Doha, topping the field in the 200 free and adding a silver in the 100 free and a surprise bronze in the 100 breast. The former Michigan Wolverine leads the psych sheet in the 100 free and 200 free and will also contest the 50 free, 400 free, 100 fly, and 100 breast. Haughey, who represents Hong Kong and won their first world title in Doha, has a different qualification process for the Olympics than much of the field, so she will be in a different training position than many of her competitors.

“Don’t call it a comeback”

For all of you eagerly waiting to lambast me in the comments for forgetting to mention Simone Manuel in the sprint frees, don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten; I just thought it deserved its own section. Manuel, whose trials and tribulations have been well documented.had a strong showing at the Westmont, winning the 200 free in a time of 1:57.80, the 100 free in 53.35 and placed 2nd in the 50 free in a time of 24.49.

Simone Manuel (photo: Jack Spitser)

In San Antonio, she’ll take on the same four events (50/100/200 free and 100 fly) and is seeded dangerously low, especially in the 50. Seeded just 12th with an entry of 24.82, her 24.49 from Westmont would jump her up to 8th, and her 100 free time would move from 9th to 7th. While a few spots may not seem to be a lot, Manuel was just 24.82 and 53.73 in Knoxville and has already dropped chunks off of them in the two months between the meets. If her trajectory holds, then Manuel should easily be back towards the top of the conversation of contenders at the Olympic Trials.

Even more impressive, though, is that her 50 time is almost as fast as what she swam to win trials in 2021 (24.29). Manuel, who was in the midst of dealing with Over Training Syndrome, has certainly rebounded since, but still has her work cut out for her as a 24.29 won trials in 2021 but most likely won’t this time around as Douglass holds the American record of 23.91 and Weitzeil holds the US Open record of 24.00 and Curzan has been as fast as 24.17.

BONUSES

[Author’s aside: I have a hard time editing, so I included some more storylines that deserve some attention]

• Women’s Distance: Katie Ledecky leads the field by a wide margin in the 1500, but that doesn’t mean that the talent isn’t there. Jillian Cox, who placed 6th in the 800 in Fukuoka, enters just behind fellow Americans Paige Madden (#4) and Erica Sullivan (#5), but on paper, the biggest threat to take second behind Ledecky is 34-year-old Ashley Wall. If you are asking yourself who that is, it appears as if Ashley Twitchell has taken her husband’s last name or at least starting using it on entries. Wall is making her return after giving birth to her first child in May of 2022. With Wall, an open water specialist, giving battle in the 1500, Leah Smith will take up the gauntlet in the 400 and 800.
• Lilly King, long the dominant face of American breaststroke, has stood the test of time and still leads the field in the 100 breast but faces fellow 2021 Olympian Lydia Jacoby as well as a hungry Kaitlyn Dobler. Kate Douglass, the American record holder in the 200 breast and the 50 free, seems like she should be able to contest this event, but seemingly yet put together he sprinting capabilities with her breaststroke, but poses a threat in any event she is entered in.